MCV - March 19, 2008

Launching globally in 2009, The Sims 3 has shifted 98 million units worldwide since its beginnings in 2000. The new title will boast a seamless open-world environment, a huge number of storytelling options and a huge number of locations. EA is particularly pushing the new create-a-Sim interface, highly realistic personalities and an infinite number of customisation options.Comments (0) | Permalink

joystiq.com - March 6, 2008

If there was any doubt that EA would continue to milk the lucrative cash cow that is Will Wright's Sims franchise, that doubt can now be officially expelled. EA has created an official page for the next title in the series -- titled, appropriately enough, The Sims 3.Comments (0) | Permalink

Gamasutra - July 22, 2009

Gamasutra can reveal that Electronic Arts' The Sims 3 sold 820,000 retail copies in the United States in June 2009, topping sales charts across all console/PC platforms for the month, according to NPD data provided by the sales tracking firm.
The PC title, developed by Electronic Arts' Redwood Shores studio as the latest in the Will Wright-conceived life sim series, is also one of the overall top-selling games released in 2009 for any format.
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One thing to note is that Starcraft, one of the best selling PC games of all time, sold 11 million copies world wide (citation). Starcraft continues to appear in the Top 10 PC game charts to this day. It is doubtful that Sims 3, or any other game, will match the 12 year sales record of Starcraft and approach anything near 10 million units.

In EA's fiscal year earnings they claimed Sims 3 has sold in excess of 4 million. Wikipedia says 5.9 million. However it links the source for that to a Gamespot review that never mentions sales. Searching Gamespots new's for it discloses the most recent figure as 4.5 million as of Jan 22.